>> what did you learn? >> kentucky senate race, great barometer, watching the line of the campaign so far, which is mcconnell wouldn't pass a kidney stone. >> best line ever. >> we got to get mitch to come on the show, don't we? >> yes, we do. >> thanks for watching today. greatly appreciate it. if it's way too early, what time is it? >> it's time for "morning joe" but now it's time for "the daily rundown" with chuck todd. >> t.j., i'm coming to get you, right now. the guy, i swear. al qaeda chatter. the startling details about the terror threat that has u.s. officials ordering more than a dozen embassies across the globe closed now till at least this saturday. has the heightened alert thwarted the terror plot or are u.s. officials buying more time to try and smoke the bad guys out? next u, cairo, amid the terror threat, senators head to egypt to try to broker an end to the standoff between military leaders and morsi supporters.

how will the republican hawks try to end the intensifying political crisis in that country? and battle in the bluegrass state. senator mitch mcconnell meets his challengers on the left and the right but saves most of his fodder for president obama. good morning from washington. it's august 5th, 2013. this is the "daily rundown." i'm chuck todd. loaf the no traffic in d.c. but it doesn't mean we're not very busy. first reads of the morning. global terror threat. officials warning they've intercepted a high volume of chatter that indicates a major attack may be in the works, likely in the hands of aqap, known as al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, officially the affiliate based in yemen. too vague to pinpoint where it might happen. everyone with inside knowledge about this threat says it's the most serious in years, perhaps the most serious since 9/11. >> we've received information

high-level people from al qaeda in the arabian peninsula are talking about a major attack. >> there's been an awful lot of chatter out there. chatter means conversation among terrorists about the planning that's going on. very reminiscent of of what we saw pre-9/11. >> because of the specificity, because of where it's coming from, the credibility of it, the level of chatter, it seems to be a fairly large operation. >> the state department has announced at least 19 diplomatic facilities will remain closed through next saturday. that includes 15 that had been closed previously and four african sites that were added to the list on sunday. security has been beefed up at u.s. embassies across the middle east and north africa including yemen, bahrain, jordan and iraq. the state department issued a global travel alert for august. indicating this might not just

be about embassies but also hotels affiliated with u.s. visitors. saying, for terrorists to attack public transportation systems and other tourist infrastructure, hotels. terrorists have targeted and attacked subway and rail systems as well as aviation and maritime services previously. the decision to keep the precautions in place was made after a high-level meeting saturday night chaired by the new national security adviser susan rice and attended by the secretaries of security, as well as the fbi. describing the steps as an exercise in caution. lawmakers seep to be trying to one-up each other while describing the threat. >> whether they're going to be suicide vests that are used tore whether they're planning on vehicle-born bombs being carried under an area, we don't know. >> the assumption is that it's

probably most likely to happen in the middle east at or about one of the embassies but there's no guarantee of that at all. it could be europe. it could be the united states. it could be a series of combined attacks. >> so it begs the question, why go public at all? is the administration trying to smoke out more information or trying to cover itself in case the worst happens? last year's attack on the u.s. consulate, the front essentially for cia operations there in benghazi, is obviously seared into the administration's memory and they don't want history to repeat itself in that particular incident. particularly when the chatter and the timing -- remember, we are in the five dnal days of ran and all of that seems to coincide. you heard a number of lawmaker using the threat as a vehicle to advance their own agendas. for instance, more money overseas. >> in the defense appropriations bill which we wrote and sent to committee this week, i included

$48 million specifically to upgrade in 35 embassies around the world the security that we need. >> for others, it was a chance to put the spotlight back on benghazi. >> this is to me a direct consequence from what we saw in benghazi and the general program this administration has, which is not being aggressive. >> and others took the opportunity to promote their own position on the nsa and the impact of budget cuts. >> al qaeda's on the rise in this part of the world and the nsa program is proven its worth yet again. we need to re-evaluate where we're at. sequestration has to be fixed. if this happens a year from now, our intelligence communities will be less capable. >> for more on the threat and ways being done to combat it, for that, i'm joined by nbc's justice correspondent pete williams. all right, pete, do we have new

information from what we knew thursday and friday about this terror threat, from what we've learned over the weekend? >> well, yes, i think from members of congress, have been saying -- remember, they've been getting briefings on this. i must say, chuck, i think there's another factor at play here in addition to all the ones you mentioned about why the government is being so forthcoming about this. you may recall there was a lot of criticism after the bombing of twa flight 800 that the government was telling its people not to fly but not saying anything to the general traveling public. now the rule is if you're going to close embassies and warn diplomatic personnel, you have to share that with the rest of the public as well. remember, it's not just the u.s. that's taking this step. both the uk and france are closing their embassy in yemen through thursday. so what the u.s. is doing is closing 19 posts through this saturday. they say, by the way, that some of them would have been closed for several days of this week

any way because of the high holy days for the end of ramadan. secondly, you have some reopen. nine countries reopening. including kabul in afghanistan and baghdad. so it's still confined to north africa and the middle east. but it's quite clear that what is alarming is who was heard saying this plot was in the final stages. senior people in al qaeda in yemen. which is the most capable and the most determined to attack the u.s. >> i know john brennan always described then as the most operational of all the al qaeda affiliates. he even was including al qaeda in pakistan and afghanistan. when he was making that judgment. do we have a sense of what the plot is? >> no. >> do they have a sense and they're not sharing that or -- >> no. >> okay. >> that's my understanding. i mean, what they do know is where it comes from, that it's senior people in yemen talking about it, and that's spooky enough. they have some general idea of the dates.

supposedly starting last sunday and continuing, as the travel notice says, through the end of the month. maybe into early september. through labor day. but where, how, you know, with what sort of targeting, what kind of attack, they just don't know. >> people, the history, it seems to me, tell me if this is incorrect, either time the government's been able to go public about a terror warning, go back to the bush days, has it been one of the essential tools for thwarting it? >> certainly helpful. i'm sure by now -- i'm not sure but i would assume by now the al qaeda people in yemen realize we're on to them. whether that will change their plan, whether they'll modify it, whether they'll delay it, whether they'll forget it, who knows. i suppose the feeling, number one, it can't hurt, and number two, you have to warn people anyway. >> pete williams, thank you. joining me now is california

democratic congressman adam sheriff who was a member of the house intelligence committee and getting some of these briefings. congressman, what can you tell us publicly about what you know and what you understand about this plot? >> what i understand is there's a high level of confidence in the sources of information on it. we get chatter all the time. it's often very nonspecific. sometimes it's from less than credible sources. to take this kind of a broad action, to shut down this many embassies over this broad terrain, to have multiple briefings to the president in the course sometimes of a single day, that demonstrates a high level of confidence that this threat is real, that the attack planning is real, that it's not idle chatter. i think it's, you know, apparent, too, that while it may be specific or fairly specific on the timing, it's obviously not very specific on the location. typically when you hear chatter, it might be in code.

those chattering might be talking about, well, the wedding is coming up this sunday, the gifts are going to be enormous. we're going to get quite a celebration afterwards. things like that which can indicate something's happening but not always where that's likely to take place. the other thing i mention, chuck, i think there really is an effect of benghazi that overshadows all this. which is there's an effort to be very cautious in terms of making sure that we do everything possible to protect our personnel. >> you know, when it companies to aqap, al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, there's been a lot of successful drone strikes that some get confirm, some don't get confirmed by the government, but it's clear there have been supposedly successful drone strikes at getting top al qaeda in the arabian peninsula opera tichs over the last few years. and yet the sense we're getting over the last few days is that aqap is as strong as they've ever been. would you assess their strength and their operational capabilities right now? >> well, i think they are very

strong. the drone strikes have always been a bit of a mixed bag. they have taken very senior leadership, very dangerous leadership, off the battlefield, unquestionably a positive. at the same type, they've incited others to want to attack us. they've been a rallying cry in places like yemen where, inevitably, you do have civilian casualties. but al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, particularly in yemen, has lost a lot of territory as we work successfully with the yemeni government. that's been a positive. plainly, they're still cap cable of planning and plotting. one of the most capable bomb makers, al asiri, in yeppen ey one of the most dangerous in the world. they're still well resourced. even if they occupy less territory and under a great pressure from a combination of u.s. and yemeni forces. >> when we first booked you, we were going to spend a lot of time talking about the fisa

courts and nsa. i've got to ask you what you've learned. you're on the intelligence committee. where do you stand on this? do you think the nsa has been transparent enough? do you think the fisa courts are transparent enough? are you for this kind of surveillance that the nsa is involved with? and did this surveillance help us in this case, learning about this plot? >> in terms of the fisa court, no, i don't think the fisa court is transparent enough. i don't think they have any idea who sits on the fisa court. i think we'll be better off in a process where they're nominated by the president, confirmed. i think there should be an advocate for the privacy interests of the american people before that court. in terms of the programs themselves, the biggest question i have is about the meta data program. i've been urging nsa really for quite some time, that they ought to allow the telecommunications companies to hold their own data. and then we would only go to them when we had specific and or

ti or tick u latable facts. the vast majority of telephone records within the united states. and i don't think, although people have been sloppy talking about this plot, there's any indication that meta data program played a role. it would be very unusual for a bulk collection of domestic calls to be telling us about an aqap plot against foreign embassies and consulates. >> that's an interesting charge you just leveled. some people have been sloppy. has too much leaked out about this plot already? >> i don't think we should be talk about the sources at all of our information on this. this is not something we're looking back in history and saying, well, with respect to this plot several years ago, this program was useful, but i do think that in this contest, as in others, people have commingled several different nsa programs to try to defend, in particular, the bulk meta data program.

which i think has shown among the weaker track records of the nsa programs. >> adam schiff, member of the intelligence committee, thank you, sir, for sharing your views and getting up early on the west coast, i appreciate it. coming up, live to egypt where the u.s. embassy will remain shuttered through next saturday. that's one of those embassies that we're doing that with. there's something else going on in egypt. crisis talk. senators heading to cairo in an attempt to defuse the standoiff. can they get both side, to the negotiating table? then there's that bluegrass battle. it's the presidential campaign-sized senate race and senate challenge to mitch mcconnell. now facing the two-pronged fight. one on the right and one on the left. has he officially become the senate's most vulnerable republican? first, a look at today's politics planner. the most political announcement

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here's what i'm promising. i'm promising no stories or segments about the creepy test tube hamburger. it's just a little creepy, isn't it? coming up, more secrets from the 2012 campaign. it's the stories you haven't heard about the battle for the white house. from none other than dan balls. including the incident that made romney's chief strategist throw

up. meanwhi meanwhile, senators mcconnell and graham are facing primary challenges from right. is 2014 turning into the ultimate fight for the soul of the gop? first, today's trivia question. when did congress mandate their summer recess? whole bunch of people would like to mandate they don't get one. first person to tweet the correct answer to @chucktodd and @dailyrundown. geoff: i'm the kind of guy who doesn't like being sold to. the last thing i want is to feel like someone is giving me a sales pitch, especially when it comes to my investments. you want a broker you can trust. a lot of guys at the other firms seemed more focused on selling than their clients. that's why i stopped working at my old brokerage and became a financial consultant with charles schwab. avo: what kind of financial consultant are you looking for? talk to us today.

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faced his challengers head on. mcconnell febdi infending off a two-pronged a tack. he kicked things off with a jab at his democratic opponent alison lundergan grimes. >> i want to say how nice it is, how nice it is to see jerry lund lundergan back in the game. he's taking orders from the obama campaign on how to run his daughter's campaign. they told him to make a pitch on the internet. for the women's vote. and he sent a check to anthony wiener! >> well, i don't know how well that joke went. but focusing mostly on president obama, mcconnell painted a picture of a liberal washington. and he touted his leadership role and even tied himself to the junior senator from kentucky. >> the liberals are worried

because just as i predicted, obama care is a disaster for america. as long as i'm in the senate, kentucky will have a voice instead of san francisco and martha's vineyard. rand paul and i take kentucky's fight to the liberals every single day. >> but his challengers pull no punches, hitting him from the left and the right. alison lundergan grimes tied mcconnell to the washington gridlock. >> if senator mcconnell had his way, his version of kentucky health care for all seniors, grandmother, would be to walk it off. let's just tell it like it is. if the doctors told senator mcconnell that he had a kidney stone, he'd refuse to pass it. >> as somebody would just had a kidney stone, that one sort of hit close to home.

republican challenger matt denim who attracted support from some in the tea party, attacked him on the economy. >> i don't intend to run to the right of mitch mcconnell. i don't intend to run to the left of mitch mcconnell. i intend to run straight over the top of mitch mcconnell and right into the u.s. senate and with your help we're going to do that. >> mcconnell's folks were hoping neither grimes nor bevan would look ready for prime time. both challengers came off surprisingly fiery. the weekends show mcconnell may not be the most vulnerable senator up for re-election. on saturday, the first female graduate of the citadel announced her plans to run against him in a primary. she cite siriticized the senior senator for forgetting his principles. >> there are republican senators in the senate today would believe our bill of rights are up for debate.

unfortunately, the senator has accused this government of working to grow this government. >> he touted his conservative credentials. >> i'll continue to be lindsey graham, a solid fiscal and social conservative who wants to solve problems. i think that's the future of the republican party. >> so with the gop hoping to win back the senate in 2014, let's bring in our monday gaggle. former chief of the u.s. office of citizenship for president bush alfonzo aguilar. director of the caucus angela rye. and of course the director dan boies. this is two members of your party, you're watching here, you know, mcconnell getting squeezed, left and right. graham, right now, squeezed from the right. just a simple question, who

would you rather be, mcconnell or graham? >> i think they're both in tough races. but they both have a lot of political experience. certainly mitch mcconnell has been in tough races before. we you've been in the senate for 30 years, it's obviously easy to attack you when congress is not very popular. i think at the end, with the support of rand paul, and rand paul's committed to helping mitch mcconnell, i think he will pull through. same thing with lindsey graham. he has a lot of experience. he knows folks in the state have a lot of experience with him. so at the end, he'll pull through. >> angela, democrats very vulnerable in the senate. he's fairly easy, logical path for republicans to get the senate. suddenly, if your party's able to up end kentucky, it throws the map out. >> sure, i think what's interesting about the race is he's getting primary challenger with the gop but also a democratic challenger and he's getting hit from both sides it so it's almost like mitch mcconnell's being painted as a

moderate somehow at this point, which is very, very interesting. i centerly couldn't see it before this weekend's fancy farm. >> are democrats going to find a candidate in south carolina? >> i don't know, with jamie's help they might. >> it's interesting to watch this race in kentucky because i feel like it sort of lumps the entire what's going on here in washington all in this one race. the fight for the soul of the republican party. and mcconnell's going to get pressured, defunding obama care and stuff like that. then this issue of gridlock. is it a resident issue, which of course obama is hoping to make on the campaign trail in 2014. >> it came together so nicely at this fancy farm event. which is a grand event. i've never attended it. it has a history to it. and as we saw from those clips, it is a raucous event. it's a little like question time in the british parliament with people jeering and yelling. >> it's old school. 30 and 40 and 50 years ago. >> and yet everybody -- all three of the candidates really came ready to play. and so it says to you that this

race is now teed up in a way that a week ago or ten days ago it really wasn't. so the focus on this, as you say, the implications of this, are going to draw an enormous amount of attention. >> this pressure that mcconnell's going to feel, you know, bevan is going to have no qualms. he talked about it in his speech. had to do with pressuring mcconnell, saying, hey, you know, go with ted cruz and mike lee on this issue of, you know, no budget, you know, no debt ceiling, no budget, none of this, if it includes fundingth president's health care plan. >> i think that's the difficulty republicans have. you have to show to please your base you're being principled. that you're following conservative principles. at the same time, you have to show independence and the general american public you can govern. right now i think we are losing the messaging battle. the perception is is it the republican party who's being obstructionist when i think the democrats are really not willing to work to reach consensus. publicly, i think republicans

are getting blamed. >> looking at this article today in "the new york times." all these republican governors, including scott walker, who's not afraid of a battle saying, whoa, whoa, guys, don't shut down the government. >> sure. part of it is, i think, what's most interesting, again, going back to the senate races, is that these argues have traditionally been used about congressional districts. and now you see someone like a mitch mcconnell, someone like a lindsey graham, facing congressional district-based arguments in their races. with the governors, they're saying, listen, we have to continue to run and govern our state. >> it's interesting to me, there's no leader of the republican party in leadership that seems to be calling for the shutdown strategy. yet you get the sense that republicans aren't confident they can avoid this. you think none of them are for it but they don't know how to avoid it. >> it's kind of a continuation of what we've seen since the 2010 election. and the new republican party that now swept into congress. that the tea party faction in

the house has bedeviled the leadership from the time they arrived in january 2011 and we continue to see that. i mean, it's interesting, scott walker making those comments that you referred to. i mean, scott walker knows the consequences of -- >> right. he got an attempted recall. he went down this road and he fought. >> he was -- chasing may be too strong a word. he took away from that experience he had made mistakes tactically, if not strategically, the way he went about trying to get his agenda through, he's operated in a different way. he's sending a warning tone. >> didn't change his attorntone. he said, i get it, let's change the conversation. you'll come back, we'll talk this crazy virginia race. every week, not sure which candidate is heading down the rat hole. for more on the kentucky showdown including a full look at the mud slung from all sides at the fancy farm, check out our rundown, msnbc.com.

dan is staying put. up next, we have secrets from the campaign trail. his great new book "collision 2012" is out. we'll have behind the scenes drama he reports about. what happened there between obama and romney, the conventions, it's fascinating stuff, how it may set the pattern for future elections. ♪ (announcer) answer the call of the grill with new friskies grillers, full of meaty tenders and crunchy bites. as soon as you feel it, weigh you down? try miralax. it works differently than other laxatives. it draws water into your colon to unblock your system naturally. don't wait to feel great. miralax. take the miralax pledge to feel better sooner. get a reward like a beauty treatment, a dance class or a $5 gift card with purchase of a specially marked pack.

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need a little kick? ooh! could've had a v8. in the juice aisle. plays a key role throughout our lives. one a day men's 50+ is a complete multivitamin designed for men's health concerns as we age. it has 7 antioxidants to support cell health. one a day men's 50+. you know we've done our very best to cover every single angle of the 2012 election. today, a deep dive into his new book, "collision 2012." drama that hasn't been fully revealed till now. the fact that romney initially didn't want to run for president a second time. apparently, he wasn't alone. in 2010, the romney family took a vote and 10 of the 12 family members voted no. mitt romney was one of those

voting against another campaign. although he ultimately came around, romney's son tagg said his father had serious doubts about doing this again. even up till the day before he made the announcement. there had been someone who he thought would have made a better president than he, he would have gladly stepped aside. there's unique insight into christie's decision not to run. also recounting christie's reaction to being told a video that was supposed to intro his gop convention speech would be cut for time. christie told this person to ask the director if he had ever heard anyone say "f" on live television because that's what he was about to do if the video didn't run. needless to say, an awkwardly so, after romney's speech, the video played. would could forget eastwood's

rambling dialogue opposite an empty chair? saying he, quote, walked out of the room and threw up. also background on this infamous moment. >> the third agency of government i would do away with the education, the -- commerce, and let's see -- i can't, the third one, i can't, sorry. oops. >> perry's adviser at the time said, quote, it's like people describe earthquakes. the first shame and people go, o.s., it's an earthquake. but real bad earthquakes keep going. he just couldn't get out of it. perry himself seemed far less upset. said, i knew i was going to see it over and over and over again. but it wasn't anything. i went back and slept that night. let's bring in the man behind this book. he is the author of "collision

2012." that is one of the more fascinating moments. that's what made this book such a great read. sort of reminding ourselves all the crazy stories that happened. the sub stories. we're all caught up basically from the convention -- feels like everybody's memory is convention forward. i want to start with a kwon convention, interesting, behind the scenes, finding out, bill clinton versus obama campaign on the length of his speech. >> yes, but there was a drama, as you remember, when we were in char late, on the day of the clinton speech. has the speech arrived? has the become compare -- what we know is, no, they didn't, they got it quite late. with all bill clinton's speeches, they are long. so the one thing that the obama campaign tried to do is cut it for length. >> they're worried about prime-time coverage. the tv networks, what we do,

usually 11:00, we move on. >> right, you move on. >> to local news. >> they tried to cut it in a way that would keep it within the prime-time hour. so what went up on the teleprompter was the cut version. but bill clinton had digested and memorized the whole speech. there were times when he looked like he was just riffing, which he's famous for doing. he basically put everything back into the speech that had been cut out and it ran past the 11:00 hour and the networks stayed with it. >> everything you heard about this speech, clinton, he was really fairly nervous about it. he did not want to look like he was hurting the president again, right, he was really concerned. he wanted them to think he was really helping. >> as you remember, he had had that very awkward moment earlier in the summer when he had gone on cnn, on the piers morgan show and said of romney, he had a sterling record in business. in essence undercutting what the obama campaign was trying to do at that moment with governor romney. and i think he felt he hadn't

really done what peep thought he had done but he clearly in the convention speech wanted and needed to make amends for that. >> there's an interesting issue with christie. it leads to perhaps the confusion there's been. was chris christie asked and did he say no to being on the romney ticket or not, what's your sense? >> chuck, i don't know how to resolve this. this is two versions of a phone call. >> because people in christie's world really believe that romney said, it's yours if you want it. >> here's what we know. in mid-july last summer, governor romney called governor christie to talk about the vice presidency. there was an fcc rule causing problem. at some point in that conversation, governor romney said, well, would you resign to become vice presidential nominee? now, the christie people believe that was tantamount to an offer or it meant that he was the first choice. from the romney campaign, it was

no, governor romney was exploring different aspects of problems that involved a number of people on the short list. so it wasn't an offer. as one person said to in, i can understand why governor romney's -- or governor christie's people feel that way. >> let's go to this issue of why it is. there was a ruling that because of christie uniquely couldn't raise money, there was a concern he wouldn't be able to raise any national money as a sitting governor. >> it's an fcc rule. it says if you have control over bond underwriting in your state -- >> and the governor of new jersey does -- >> and the governor of new jersey does. people in those financial institutions cannot contribute to your campaign. this effected govern eaffected >> hedge fund-type people -- >> right, so they just stopped raising money in new york, wall street. the say would have affected

governor christie. the romney campaign was looking at ways around that. but there was no clear solution to it. >> but at the end of the day, you feel paul ryan was truly his first choice or do you think it was christie and this was the impediment? >> only governor romney and maybe beth myers know the answer to that question. >> it's been interesting. go buy the book. we can't give the whole thing away. download the book. download it right now. we'll do that. dan will stick around because it's monday and he's on the panel. we'll talk a little virginia governor. up next, though, we're going to go live to cairo. facing its own political unrest amid the new terror threat. two republican senators there trying to be mediator. white house soup of the day, it's my favorite because it makes you research all the legumes of the world, it's 15 bean. we'll be right back. told ya. t-mobile's got the samsung galaxy s iii.

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today as 19 diplomatic posts continue to remain closed through saturday as intelligence officials warn of increased terror chatter. there's a lot going on in cairo and egypt. joining us, nbc's chief foreign correspondent richard engel. i want to focus on what's going on in egypt and what begins this week. we've got senators mccain and graham coming to cairo to try to play mediator here. we know they're close to the white house so they're not doing this on their own. may not be doing this in an official capacity on behalf of the president. but that interview that the general gave to t"the new york times" basically lambasting the u.s. government, what more can you tell us of what's going on here and what's the future of president morsi? >> well, president morsi is still being held incommunicado. if you remember, it was about a month ago the military carried out a coup, although some in the u.s. government don't want to call it a coup. he was forced out of power and elected president by the military. the muslim brotherhood came to

the streets and remained in the streets. they're in two protest camps in the city. there have been two violent incidents where police and riot police and security forces went in to try and break them up and a few hundred were killed. the standoff remains. those protests camps still exist. there have been background negotiations to try to get the muslim brotherhood to calm down, to get off the streets, but they say they won't, not until morsi is released from jail, till others have also been released from prison. they are going back and forth, whether they insist that morsi be reinstated to power or not. so there is some flexibility. and now we've seen the u.s. trying to mediate. the european onion hunion has t mediate. there isn't much really to negotiate about.

maybe there's a negotiated settlement to end the standoff now on the streets of cairo. you have two diametrically opposed groups. you have general ceci from the military who did this action because he thought the muslim brotherhood was taking the country down a terrible path. and the muslim brotherhood wants power and feels that it got it. >> i hate to put it in these terms. neither side seems to trust the united states so what role can we really play here? >> i think the united states still has a lot cards. it has a lot of military aid it can dangle and potentially threaten the military with. the muslim brotherhood is counting on the u.s., even though the muslim brotherhood and the united states are not natural allies, to help negotiate some sort of re-entry for it into politics. if not having morsi himself be returned to the presidency. i think even the muslim brotherhood at this stage thinks its best hope would be to be

allowed to run in another election openly and it hopes to win elections again. >> all right. well, both mccain and graham have been critical of how the military did this and they seem to be sympathetic to the muslim brotherhood side on this. we'll see how that plays out. richard engel, i know you have a busy week, thank you, sir. we asked, when did congress mandate their summer recess? the answer was 1970. it was the '70s, man. written into the legislative reorganization act of that year which added electronic voting to the house chamber and made nearly all committee hearings public. congratulations to today's winner. send your trivia questions in. we'll be right back with a groovy panel. this day calls you.

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apparently when you're looking for that, sometimes it's not too hard to find. the one thing i would say is a little bit different in terry macculloch's situation. when emoved from the scandal you find out details that go to your benefit. you weren't really a part of it. we may find out that he didn't have anything to do with this. >> that's the investigation never sounds good. it doesn't. ken still has a bob mcdonnell

problem. >> it's i think it's going to snowball. if it's a question of trust, i think at this point macculloch may win i'm the worst person contest in virginia. look. they appealed and they were denied visa and all of a sudden they get the visas. very fishy. now you have a second investigation. this is nothing compared to accepting gives. >> frank rich at the end of a rough column and all things washington reminded folks have you noticed these things? terry mcauliffe and huma abedin and doug band and a reminder that hillary world still has some potential baggage she is carrying around from bill clinton's world.

>> yeah. no question about it. earlier in the year she is the most popular person in america. she's the most popular democrat. but you've said this yourself. the minute she becomes a candidate, if she does become a candidate, so much of this comes back and she will have to weather it. >> it was interesting to see the post today. blind quotes from hillary supporters distancing from terry mcauliffe. >> plugs today? >> yesterday was our president's birthday so happy birthday to him and congressman jeffries. >> senathow about that? >> i got to plug the book today. collision 2012. it will be in stores tomorrow available for download tonight. >> i'm plug ago new campaign called voices for yes. a bipartisan effort from political consultants on the left and right trying to get the band yes into the rock 'n' roll hall of fame.

i'm saving my heart for you. that is it. coming up next on msnbc, chris jansing. for those of you traveling today, southern missouri and northern arkansas will see some heavier rain especially through this morning. east of the rockies this afternoon we could see stronger storms. in the northeast, 75 in boston and low humidity and 80 degrees in new york city. in chicago, some late day thunderstorms will develop well below average with highs around 75. but you had to leave right now, would you go? man: 'oh i can't go tonight' woman: 'i can't.' hero : that's what expedia asked me. host: book the flight but you have to go right now. hero: (laughs) and i just go? this is for real right? this is for real? i always said one day i'd go to china, just never thought it'd be today. anncr: we're giving away a trip every day. download the expedia app and your next trip could be on us.

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good morning. i'm chris jansing. the question this morning is how worried should we be? the terror threat continues. 19 american outposts remain closed across the arab world and be shut through the week. >> i can tell you, david, this is the most that i've seen the last several years. >> i have to 'this is one of the most incredible threats i've seen perhaps since 9/11. >> i had a briefing with the vice president, it is scary. al qaeda is on the rise in this part of the world. >> there is no new threat this morning. the state department decided to keep many embassy consulates closed out of abundance of ut